An FIU student explains the Jain festival Paryushana

Alumni couple Sapan and Gitika Bafna wanted to educate the world about their Jain faith, and in FIU’s Department of Religious Studies their ideas took root. In 2010, Jains from around the world came together with FIU to create the only endowed professorship devoted to the study of Jainism in the Western Hemisphere. The Bhagwan Mahavir Professorship of Jain Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences is named for the 24th and last Jain tirthankara, or spiritual fathers of Jainism, who lived from 599-527 BCE.

Read more about the Bafnas and their quest for religious understanding.